Jan. 19—Blackbrook Audubon visits a living conservation project at Orchard Hills Park in Geauga County each month for its Important Bird Area survey, and birders of all skill levels are invited to meet at 8 a.m. Jan. 28 at 11340 Caves Road in Chester Township for the next visit.

This park is on a restored golf course next to the Patterson Farm Market, which is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Blackbrook announced in a news release that it will try to add more species to its January 100 for Fun list at this walk and wrap its month-long attempt to reach 100 species as a group.

This month Blackbrook has asked its members and other birders to log any birds they see in Ohio and share eBird lists with “FriendsofBlackbrook.” The group will acknowledge top contributors, the most frequently seen birds, and vote on the rarest bird spotted, the release stated.

Among the 19 species from December’s list at Orchard Hills, the group got to hear and see two golden-crowned kinglets and two pileated woodpeckers.

Blackbrook logged 58 bird species when they completed almost a year of IBA walks at Orchard Hills in 2016. With surveys on the fourth Sunday of each month year round, they hope to get closer to the 144 species listed on eBird.org, according to the release.

The walk leader may have a pair or two of binoculars to lend out. Basic restrooms are available with no running water.

Orchard Hills Park falls within the watershed of the Chagrin River Corridor Important Bird Area.

After the Orchard Hills Golf and Country Club closed in 2007, the Patterson family worked with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and Geauga Park District to place a conservation easement there.

The park district has worked to bring back stream, wetlands, forest and meadow to return the site to its natural state — a mature beech-maple forest with clean headwater streams and wetlands for the Chagrin River, the release stated.

Blackbrook Audubon covers Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties as the local chapter of National Audubon Society. For more information, visit blackbrookaudubon.org, email blackbrookaud@aol.com or follow it on Facebook.